The Pros And Cons Of Mass Incarceration

The United States accounts for 5% of the world population but has nearly 22% of world prison population. This means that nearly 2 million people are incarcerated, and 1 in 3 black men will go to prison or jail if this trend continues (Amnesty International). Mass Incarceration has been one of the major debate recently in Politics. The politician has been debating on a method to reduce the prison population, and to do that they need to find the cause of it and the different contribution. In recent year, there has been a cut in funding for many states rehabilitation, education and other programs because the costs to accommodate an inmate is escalating upward. At the same time, laws are put in place that put disadvantaged people within the criminal
One of the contributions is the policy that lawmakers have established. The policy is established in a way that focuses on the poor, uneducated minority males. Bruce Western explains in his book “Poverty and Inequality in America,” that incarceration is concentrated among the disadvantage because they lack social capital and advantages. This group includes the less educated, less skilled, financially disadvantage and minority men (15). African Americans and Hispanics have greater chance to be incarcerated than whites because a study shows that Black men are six to eight times more likely to be in prison than whites (15). Law is established in a way that benefits the wealthy and privileged but put minority at an, even more, disadvantaged state. Young minority males are already living in poverty when they get incarcerated, and when they come out it is hard for them to integrate back into society because they do not have the financial support. The policy established put offenders at a disadvantage because they cannot get a job without an employer conducting a background check on them. The policy created makes it hard to be part of society again after paying their debt to